Week 13 Thoughts

Week 13's Sunday started with the surprising, not so surprising, news that the Los Angeles Rams had signed head coach Jeff Fisher to a two-year contract extension. The deal had been long rumored so it really came as no surprise when the news finally surfaced. It's a surprise in that Fisher has been mostly mediocre, and often worse, for the entirety of his time with the Rams. With yesterday's loss to the New England Patriots, Fisher has a 31-44-1 record since becoming the Rams coach in 2012. It's fitting that his 44th loss was handed to him by the Patriots as his $7 million salary puts him in company with Bill Belichick. That salary puts Fisher fourth behind Sean Payton, Pete Carroll, and Belichick. That's fine company and one of those four looks out of place.

Social media was on fire yesterday with the Fisher contract news.

"With a loss today Jeff Fisher is guaranteed to have gone through 3 Presidential inaugurations since last coaching a team to a winning record."
     -former Packers tight end Tom Crabtree on Twitter

Leave it to the often hilarious, and always interesting, Crabtree to get political.

While Fisher's continued coaching employment has always been a curiosity the only problem that I have with the man is that he keeps Gregg Williams employed.

There were some NFL games yesterday.

The Houston Texans-Green Bay Packers game at Lambeau was my first snow game of the 2016 NFL season. It was fun to see. Football with some snow is fun. It was snowing pretty good early in the game and there was a nice dusting on the field late.

It actually looked like the Texans were the team more accustomed to the winter weather for most of the game. Both teams were doing a fine job defensively. Despite never trailing in the game, it just felt like the Packers were struggling more than the Texans. That changed when Texans corner Jonathan Joseph left the game with an injury late in the third quarter. Without Joseph, Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers started picking apart the Bengals secondary. He lead his team on touchdown drives of 98 and 89 yards and it was game over. 21-13 Packers.

The best of the early games was the Kansas City Chiefs-Atlanta Falcons thriller. Chiefs safety Eric Berry brought the biggest thrills. He returned an interception 37 yards for a touchdown with 37 second to play in the first half. He topped that for thrills in the fourth quarter when he intercepted Matt Ryan's pass on a two-point conversion attempt and returned it about 100 yards for two points for the Chiefs. Those two points were the difference in the 29-28 Chiefs win.

Decisions are easy in hindsight but one can't help but think about the Falcons fortunes if head coach Dan Quinn had simply decided to kick the extra point rather than attempt the two-point conversion. His team had rallied from a 27-16 deficit and taken a 28-27 lead on a five-yard Ryan to Aldrick Robinson touchdown pass. His reason for opting to go for two was obvious. A Chiefs field goal would tie rather than win. His team already had the lead. He just needed a big cushion. There was still 4:32 to play in the game so the Chiefs had plenty of time. Besides, what could go wrong? Quinn had opted to go for two on the Falcons previous touchdown. They failed then as well. If the Falcons hadn't started chasing points with over 11 minutes to play they probably would have had the three-point lead that he sought late in the game. Anyway, it's so easy to pick these things apart after the game.

The Detroit Lions took advantage of Saints mistakes to escape New Orleans with a big 28-13 win.

Drew Brees has been playing some of his best football this season. And that's saying something. He threw three interceptions yesterday. He also botched a snap that stalled an early drive. Tight end Coby Fleener dropped a possible touchdown at the end of the first half. The Saints settled for a field goal. Saints corner Sterling Moore dropped an interception. A coverage breakdown allowed Lions receiver Golden Tate to score an easy 66-yard touchdown. A touchdown that pretty much sealed the Saints loss.

The Lions have to lose three of their remaining games so that the Minnesota Vikings can grab the division title. This was supposed to be the first of those losses.

The New England Patriots cruised by the Los Angeles Rams 26-10. If the Patriots had managed touchdowns rather than four field goals this game would have been the blowout that it felt like.

With Trevor Siemian injured, the Denver Broncos did enough against the Jacksonville Jaguars with rookie quarterback Paxton Lynch. 20-10. The Broncos didn't do much on offense so their defense provided a touchdown. Bradley Roby returned an interception 51 yards for that defensive score.

Without receiver A.J. Green, the Cincinnati Bengals finally managed to play a little bit like the team that they were supposed to be this season. The Philadelphia Eagles were on the wrong side of it. With big plays finally a part of his arsenal, Andy Dalton led the Bengals to an explosive 29-0 start in their 32-14 win.

Bengals running back Jeremy Hill had the unfortunate, Matt Asiata-like stat line of 23 carries for 33 yards and a touchdown. 1.4 yards/carry is easier to accept in a win.

The Miami Dolphins are no longer the hottest team in the AFC. They were taken apart by Joe Flacco and the Baltimore Ravens 38-6.

Flacco was great. 36/47 for 381 yards and four touchdowns. An interception was his only blemish. He was so good that Ryan Mallett even got into the game. Flacco spread those completions to 10 receivers. Half of those pass catchers gained at least 40 yards.

The Ravens defense was terrific. Again.

The Chicago Bears defeated the San Francisco 49ers. 26-6.

For a while it didn't look like either team wanted to win this game. The 49ers had six yards passing in the game. 6! Neither team completed a pass in the first quarter. Bears quarterback Matt Barkley didn't complete a pass until he he hit Deonte Thompson with 1:43 remaining in the first half.

In the early parts of the second half it looked like the Buffalo Bills were going to run away from the rolling Oakland Raiders. The Bills seemed to be cruising with a 24-9 lead. Then the Raiders simply flipped a switch and dominated for the final 20 minutes. 38-24 Raiders.

The Raiders visit the Chiefs on Thursday night. That game should be dynamite.

The Pittsburgh Steelers-New York Giants game was supposed to be filled with some fireworks. At least that was my hope. It wasn't. The Steelers had some. They had a two-score lead for most of the game. Steelers cruised to a 24-14 win,

I thought that the Steelers signing of free agent tight end Lararius Green was one of the best of the offseason. Especially with the retirement of Heath Miller. Injuries had kept Green on the sideline until recent weeks. Yesterday was his Steelers breakout. Six catches for 110 yards and a 20-yard touchdown. Ben Roethlisberger has a bunch of weapons. He has one more now.

Like the Cincinnati Bengals earlier in the day, the Arizona Cardinals finally played something closer to the team that they were supposed to be. They took care of the explosive Washington Redskins 31-23. Carson Palmer played well. 30/46 300 yards and 3 touchdowns. David Johnson was his usual versatile self. 84 yards rushing and a touchdown. 91 yards receiving and a touchdown.

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers 28-21 win over the San Diego Chargers was their fourth in a row. Quarterback Jameis Winston has been great. The defense is making plays. The Buccaneers are rolling.

It's disappointing that the Falcons and Buccaneers have already played their two games against each other. It would be a blast to see these two teams play a late season game with the NFC South title on the line.

The Seattle Seahawks rebounded nicely from their shaky Week 12 showing against the Buccaneers. They took apart the Carolina Panthers in the nightcap. The Panthers couldn't get anything going. It started with their ridiculous first offensive play with Derek Anderson getting the start over Cam Newton due to a dress code violation. Anderson gifted the Seahawks an interception with a poor decision that was made even worse by poor execution. I wonder if Ron Rivera would've ignored Newton's attire if he knew what Anderson was going to do with his opportunity.

Richard Sherman and Doug Baldwin bitching about being disrespected in the 2011 NFL Draft is getting tiresome. Sherman was drafted in the fifth round because he played little as a receiver for two years and then played well as a corner for two years. And he blames Jim Harbaugh for moving him around. There's always someone else to blame. Deltha O'Neal went through a similar sort of position switch at Cal a few years earleir. He just made the best of it. Baldwin went undrafted after a nice senior season, a modest sophomore season, and a couple other seasons. Both had the sort of college career that earned them a shot at the NFL and they both got one. If they used that supposed disrespect to turn themselves into the terrific football players that they've become that's awesome. Every great player has their own source of motivation. I just wish that they'd stop bitching about the supposed disrespect. It must be a Stanford thing. John Randle didn't spend his entire career bitching about being undrafted. He just went about his business and became a Hall of Famer. Stefon Diggs takes pride in his fifth round selection even though he was an early round talent.

The New York Jets host the Indianapolis Colts tonight to close Week 13.